


If The Light Should Fade

by Kingrey



Series: Rapunzel Appreciation Week [7]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Buried Alive, Eugene is NOT having a good time, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Whump, and neither is Rapunzel for that matter, this is gonna be a ride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25654570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kingrey/pseuds/Kingrey
Summary: Rapunzel Appreciation Week Day Seven: Free SpiritShe has to save him. She's late already, took too much time to see that something was wrong, too much time to learn where Eugene was and, even now, the answer feels like a death sentence: buried alive.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Series: Rapunzel Appreciation Week [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849966
Comments: 7
Kudos: 63





	If The Light Should Fade

**Author's Note:**

> >:)
> 
> Listen... I have no excuse except my love for hurt!Eugene fgshdjdj I HOPE YOU'LL ENJOY

Rapunzel doesn't think she's breathing right. She's rushing through the woods - well, Max is rushing through the woods, with her on his back - and she's sure her lungs must have stopped working, because each inhale seems shorter and harder than the last. She knows guards are following her, ready to help, but she doesn't wait- can't wait, not when Eugene is somewhere out there, suffocating just like her.

She has to save him. She's late already, took too much time to see that something was wrong, too much time to learn where Eugene was and, even now, the answer feels like a death sentence.

Buried alive.

Eugene is hurt, she knows, and bleeding, she knows, and that man- that man took dirt and put him in a box in a hole, dark and small and without enough air, and Rapunzel wants to be sick. She wonders what she could have done to be faster - wonders if she should have seen immediately that his investigation was dangerous, too dangerous to go with Max only at least, and the guilt growing inside her threatens to consume her whole.

It should have been a day like any other, she wants to scream. Or maybe not - maybe it was always destined to be a day they would remember, always destined to be a date engraved in their mind forever. She can only hopes it ends well, that the memory won't be that of a tragedy, but the thought is too terrifying to even confront for now, so she thinks of the events that led her here instead.

It started with a morning, not like any other but nearly. Rapunzel was woken up by Eugene shifting to get up, way earlier than usual, and when he saw her crack one eye open, he kissed her forehead with a laugh, looking beautiful in the pale sunlight.

She shouldn't have closed her eyes then. She was tired, the room was too bright and it was too early, but Eugene was smiling and breathing and happy and- she shouldn't have closed her eyes, but she did.

"Wh't are you doing?" she mumbled, pressing her head against the pillow as she felt him leave the bed entirely, shivering at the sensation of cold she felt alone beneath the sheets.

"Max and I are going to the forest to investigate the disappearances, remember?" Eugene answered lightly, not sounding too worried as he tucked the blankets around her again after disrupting them. He always made sure she felt warm enough.

She thinks he leant down after that, thinks that he kissed her cheek and whispered that she should go back to sleep, but she was already halfway there, so she isn't sure. As she rides towards the forest at full speed, she hopes those are real memories, and not dreams. It should have been a day like any other, she repeats to herself stubbornly, but it isn't and her heart is beating so fast with worry she fears it might explode.

It started like any other day, if a little early, with a morning, soft voices and sunlight - but it all changed when Maximus came back later, once Rapunzel was awake and working. She heard a commotion, raised voices coming from the front doors and, most of all, she heard Max, and she rushed to understand what was making him sound so distressed. When she saw him, saw his usually stark white coat speckled with blood and his saddle so glaringly empty, she remembered closing her eyes that morning, and she could only wish to go back in time, so she could hold Eugene close and never let go.

The day got progressively worse from there.

Maximus ran all the way back to where he was coming from, but Eugene wasn't there anymore. What was left was an opened bear-trap, teeth coated with blood.

Rapunzel thinks it was then, that she forgot how to breathe.

Her mind had flashed back to the recent disappearances that had started this investigation in the first place; to the isolated strangers that practically no one remembered, and whose disappearance wouldn't have been noticed if not for the attentiveness of Corona's merchants. She saw the blood, saw the trap again, saw how guilty Maximus was feeling for having left Eugene behind when he did exactly what he had to, and the cold fury that guided her next steps nearly choked her.

She can't forget the trap. Can't forget how much it must have hurt, can't forget the picture of Eugene, alone and bleeding and stuck while Maximus was fetching help - alone until he wasn't anymore. She wonders how the trap was opened, and bile rises in her throat at the scenarios her brain presents her.

She let her anger fuel her, and it didn't even take an hour to find the man responsible, hiding out in the woods in a shoddy cabin that, at first glance, didn't seem inhabited. Not even an hour, but it was too much anyway, because each minute she lost felt like a cold stabbing sensation in her gut. There were other guards with her, who had come forwards to help their Captain and their Princess, and she all but ignored them as she got closer to the man responsible. Her eyes were only focused on that man, with his red hands and his deranged smile, looking right at her without blinking.

_"I buried him"_ , he said, unprompted, _"with all the others"_ , and Rapunzel would have punched him, if she hadn't rushed to Max to try and find Eugene before it was too late. The words still resonate within her, loud and distorted by her fear, in rhythm with the sound of Maximus' hooves against the ground.

She can't breathe, but Eugene can't either, and that is the worst thing about this. With Max, they're following the obvious footsteps that man hadn't even tried to hide, but the journey feels like it's taking years. Eugene is somewhere in the dark, barely able to move, suffocating, and that fate is so horribly cruel that it brings tears to her eyes.

People always tell her she is a free spirit, and it's undeniably true. She had spent eighteen years yearning to experience the world to the fullest and, once she had a taste of it, she had known she couldn't go back to the way things were. She remembers Eugene, insisting that saving him would kill her all the same, because he knew already that she wouldn't truly live as long as she was Gothel's prisoner - and he was right. He was right about a lot of things.

Thinking about him being imprisoned inside a coffin of dirt, it goes against everything she is, everything they are together. Eugene is a free spirit too, in a way - she knows he loves doing everything with her, loves the way she will enjoy the simplest thing life has to offer, that he insists he only needs her to be happy so he can be too. But she also knows that he wasn’t truly free until he met her, either. As an orphan, and then as a criminal, Eugene never had the chance to really be a kid, never had the chance to see the world for what it could offer and not what it could take from him. He is subtle about his wonder, but it is here nonetheless.

She thinks she'll never forget the day she discovered swings for the first time. Mostly, she'll never forget Eugene's quiet admission that, while he knew they existed, he simply never had a chance to ever play with one. She'll never forget how his eyes shone as they both laughed like children, swinging up and done without caring about other people seeing them.

And now, he's in the dark. No sunshine, no air, nothing but dirt, and she's choking with him because this is her worst nightmare - it's being a prisoner, it's never feeling the sun and the breeze on her skin again and, most of all, it's Eugene suffering from it, Eugene dying alone and terrified.

She can't let it happen.

Finally, there's an opening in the trees, and rectangular patches of upturned dirt make her jump from Max before he can even stop. There's five of them, and her hands tremble at her sides as she is faced with the possibility that they are all- that Eugene is-

Rapunzel gets closer, and yells his name. The last disappearance took place more than twenty-four hours ago and she knows… She knows surviving six hours would already be a miracle. But Eugene still has a chance.

"Eugene!" she yells again, throat raw. She nearly misses it - a soft, muffled noise, coming from her left.

Rapunzel's throws herself on her knees, starting to dig with her bare hands, babbling reassurances she can only hope he hears as tears fall from her cheeks. Soon, her hands are scratched, bleeding, she has dirt under her nails, but she doesn't care at all. She barely notices the two guards having caught up to her, who are on their knees beside her, helping her remove the dirt frantically. Her arms are burning from the effort, her dress climbing up messily above her knees, but it doesn't matter, not when she scratches the surface of a wooden box. Then, her hands can't seem to work fast enough, as she yells at Eugene to hang on while they all seize the would-be coffin, and rip the lid from it.

Eugene is here. His bloody hands mirror hers, and tell her of a terrified attempt to escape, of scratching at the box from the inside while knowing he couldn't possibly get it off by himself. His leg is bloody, too, his white pants only a distant memory, the wound awful and still bleeding heavily, soaking the bottom of the box. He's dirty, he's grey, his eyes are wild and scared but…

Eugene is here. He's awake, and breathing, and free.

"Eugene," she sobs and he extends his hands towards her, both desperate to touch her and to get out. She catches him, of course, and she feels other hands helping her get him out despite his whimpers of pain. He's a little too limp, like he's ready to pass out, but his eyes seek her own, and they're as red and wet as hers.

"Sunshine," he whispers, and she hugs him even closer while he's still half lying down because… Because she _is_. Right now, she is his sunshine, she is the one who got him out of that- _hole_ , she gave him back his freedom and she hates that she even had to. He's trembling against her, from pain and exhaustion and fear, and she swears to herself that she won't let anyone confine him anywhere _ever_ again.

Just like he would never let anyone take her freedom, she would never let anyone take his.

She helps him lie down fully, and brush his hair from his sweaty forehead, kissing him like he did that morning. Around them, guards are opening the other boxes but she doesn't notice - all she sees are his eyes, that refuse to leave her out of their sight. Eugene already had nightmares about being jailed. He had hidden them from her for a long time, but he was scared of being locked up, and, most of all, scared of never seeing her again. She can't even imagine what went through his head when he was alone, losing oxygen and faith, but she swears to herself that she will help him face the new nightmares that will certainly plague him.

"Hey," he says, voice cracking and throat dry, and she wonders if it's from the blood loss - he must be dehydrated.

"Hey," she whispers back. "I'm so glad you're okay."

He swallows with difficulty, and offers her his best attempt at a smile. Despite the dirt, the blood, and everything, it's the best smile she has ever seen - she can finally breathe again.

"Thank you, Sunshine," he says weakly, and she wants to cry all over again.

"You don't have to thank me," she insists, voice low, stroking his cheek again. "I'll always come for you."

It's not even a question, for her, but she'll promise it all the same if he needs her to. She'll come for him, because in a world where he doesn't have liberty, hers is meaningless. She'll come for him because she loves him, and she can't be happy as long as he isn't. She wishes she could tell him all of this now, but he seems barely conscious as it is - no matter.

If she can't tell him, she'll show him forever just how much he means to her.

**Author's Note:**

> I... Okay, so, you can technically blame me for this but consider: buried alive is a pretty incredible trope fghdjsk
> 
> ANYWAY!! I hope you guys liked this and enjoyed Rapunzel's Appreciation Week!! It's weird that it's already over! It was really fun to participate :D
> 
> I'm kinda late in answering my comments, sorry for that, but thank you to everyone who took the time to read, kudo or comment my stories!! <3


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